ATLANTA - Local area consumers are getting paid on average double the cash by selling their Gold to Atlanta area Gold Brokers instead of "Cash for Gold" stores.

Recent reports indicate that local gold dealers which exist in the hundreds have been struggling to meet their overhead since the end of the 2011 holiday season. It seems that the small amount of business that does exist in local markets is being spread over a large number of 'Cash for Gold' dealers. The inevitableresult is that consumers are receiving very little money from dealers in exchange for their gold as the dealers struggle to keep their doors open.

Savvy and informed consumers who keep up with local news are staying away from local "Cash for Gold" or "We Buy Gold" stores and going direct to local area Gold Brokers who pay customers over 80% market value for their gold and jewelry. They can afford to do so because they are positioned at the wholesale level in that they deal direct with gold refineries. In fact, one local gold broker actually owns their own local refinery.

Gold Brokers are few in number and can usually be found through internet searches. They rarely advertise as it's an unnecessary expense for them. By saving on expensive advertising and costly, highly trafficked storefront leases - they can pay their clients even higher amounts for their gold.

Related Story:Gold Refinery That Deals Direct With the Public Opens In Gwinnett

ATLANTA - Ever since the number of 'Cash for Gold' dealers in Gwinnett County topped 100, Gwinnett Daily has been keeping track of the amounts they've been paying consumers for their gold, silver and jewelry.

Our original intent was to try to help local law enforcement weed out the crooked gold dealers, but it turns out Gwinnett County Sheriffs Office has been doing an extraordinary job staying on top of the industry daily. We also hoped that our presence would help keep overall pricing within acceptable standards and up until very recently - local gold dealers have been riding that fine line between slightly less than fair and boldly taking advantage. In other words, they've been getting away with everything they can - all the way to the bank.

"Gold Brokers paying their customers over 80% of market value for their gold... "

Unfortunately, the last couple of months have been a much different story. It turns out that ever since the 2011 Holiday Season ended, the average amount Gwinnett area 'We Buy Gold' storefronts have been paying consumers has gradually slipped below 40% and that rate continues to drop.

But it's not quite time to sound the alarms yet. It's important for us to point out that overall gold and silver sales to local vendors has dropped dramatically as well. It's not that difficult to figure out that when sales go down - the buyers have to make a lot more from each customer just to keep their doors open. In fact, this trend happens every year about this time - and the market typically corrects itself by some of the smaller businesses closing their doors and falling by the waste side. One additional factor has gold dealers seeing less and less business these days and that's the increasing popularity of local gold brokers. These are companies that, up until a couple of years ago, only bought precious metals from gold dealers. Brokers typically deal in much larger amounts of gold and work on much smaller fees.

Today, since more and more gold dealers are working directly with refineries, gold brokers have been compensating by dealing directly with the public. The best thing about dealing with gold brokers is the fact that they continue to charge the public the same low wholesale rates they pay gold dealers, usually paying their clients over 80% for their gold and silver. That's a far cry from the 40% to 50% consumers are seeing these days from 'cash for gold' dealers.

So it turns out that the local gold market is doing a pretty fair job policing itself, especially with the help of the ever vigilant Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office. But feel free to CLICK HERE to email the general manager of Gwinnett Daily's staff if something seems unreasonable in the local gold industry and we'll be happy to look into it for our dedicated readers.